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L ance was definitely going to have Ollie’s balls and he might maim my face again, but I knew her cook’s secret now. He already knew mine, and I had no intention of doing anything about that.

I was honestly a little mad at myself for not guessing Lance hired a Theran and was hiding him in the back because there was honestly no way a human could have noticed someone pissed in the house once and rolled in beds. Not with all the blood and gore all over the houses.

He told me why he was banished from his people, and that wasn’t his fault.

Ollie looked slightly worried I was going to take that for Basselt fitting my code and doing away with him, but I helped raise Rowena.

Some kids were wild and feral. If you didn’t sit on them, they snuck out and got into trouble. I told Basselt as much.

He was on our side and that was all I cared about.

He was risking his life and freedom to help.

The Madame was able to tell us one thing that helped with the intel Basselt gave Lance.

Depending on where the Ghoul was in the disease, he was either going to be really weak or he might be in the stage where he thought he was invincible and would fight like that if someone challenged him.

Which didn’t bode well for us. Barons had some training, but they fought with rules.

If it was a regular brawl where both parties fought to the best of their abilities, they’d get destroyed because they couldn’t fight outside their choreographed moves.

They had no reason to think they needed any other training because no one was allowed to fight back.

Except the Ghoul was twisted. He’d use his training and fight dirty. He was also contagious, so I’d be trying to keep contact limited. Still, if Lance’s plan worked, I wouldn’t have to touch him much.

The streets were empty, and it was pelting rain.

We hadn’t had a storm like this in a very long time and honestly, the crops probably needed it.

If it were me, I’d call the whole thing off and go home.

I also didn’t kill because of some primal urge.

I was providing pest removal services and could do it on a better night.

Trevils had been looking at this longer than me. If he thought the Ghoul was escalating, then he probably wasn’t going to let a bad storm stop him.

The Ghoul wasn’t at the house I was watching, but the house wasn’t remotely quiet. I couldn’t imagine yelling at my momma the way this girl was. Rowena wouldn’t even yell at me like that if I pissed her off. This was all over a dress, too, because I could hear everything.

I was about to leave and check in with Lance. We made a vow. It wasn’t really time yet, but nothing was going on here. Basselt came running towards me.

“Sorry, I’m much slower on two feet instead of four. I picked up the Ghoul’s scent, and it’s near Lance’s area, not yours. This is why wolves run in packs because I can’t be in two places at once. We need to get there now.”

I’d feel much better with a wolf at my side, but I’d never ask Basselt to do that. If we failed, the only thing the Barons were going to concentrate on was that a Theran attacked one of them, even if the Ghoul was a fucking serial killer. We’d be at war again and no one wanted that but the Barons.

Damn the rain. It was usually a good thing, but tonight it was storming really hard and no one should be outside.

The lightning and thunder felt a little too close, and I just had a really bad feeling.

The Ghoul wasn’t supposed to end up where Lance was.

I knew I couldn’t control that, but Lance didn’t know the first thing about proper surveillance.

I didn’t like it when Basselt and I arrived to the house. It was across the street from a bakery with an awning. Lance should have been under the awning trying not to get wet or we should have met him on the way back to meet me because we’d made a spit palm vow.

“The alley,” Basselt growled. “I smell blood.”

Lance had better be alive and have a very good fucking reason for being in that alley. I’d never been more afraid in my life. Basselt and I went running just as Lance stumbled out. He was cut and his shirt was ripped completely open and when I caught him, that was when I finally noticed.

Lance had a rather beautiful pair of breasts on him.